Senator Mary Landrieu is once again pushing to life a ban on oil and gas development in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, particularly in the Destin Dome area (mapped above), with SB 1517. In 2006, a different Landrieu bill gave Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas 37.5 percent of proceeds from fuel production in the Gulf, an estimated $6 billion a year that previously went only to the U.S. Treasury. The idea was to compensate Gulf states for their role in energy development, offsetting the environmental cost of pipelines, refineries and other infrastructure. The bill also opened eight million acres in the Gulf to drilling.

Florida wanted no part of the 2006 arrangement. But after crude oil prices rose to a whopping $147 a barrel last summer, support began building in Florida to open the eastern Gulf as a way to lower prices at the pump. The Energy Information Administration, however, contends that drilling in restricted areas would result in negligible savings.